2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a therapeutic, portable chair provided with a heating system and more particularly, to a portable water heated folding chair including a base member, a serpentine configured water pipe extending through the base member, and a water heater, whereby the portable water heated folding chair can heat a person sitting on a padded seat and a padded back of the folding chair or a person lying on a pad on a bed converted from the folding chair by circulating hot water in the water pipe through the water heater attached to and disposed within the base bed member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of water heated beds are known in the art. Such prior art water heated beds include a separate water heating system and a water pipe disposed in the bed, which communicates with the water heating system as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 333,820 to Bowman and U.S. Pat. No. 1,121,277 to Mitchell.
Also, various types of water heated pads are known in the art. Such prior art water heated pads include a water tube disposed therein and a separate or composite electric heater for heating the water disposed in the water tube buried in the pad as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 692,279 to Schmied and U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,620 to Moore et al.
However, such prior art devices suffer from a number of problems such as, for example, (a) problems with regard to moving the bed and the separate heating system, (b) problems associated with the complicated structure which includes a separate water tank, a separate heater, etc., and (c) problems with regard to achieving an effective treatment for the human body.
The present inventors have also filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/782,229, filed Nov. 4, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,633 which is related to the present application and discloses a therapeutic, portable bed including an electric water heating system attached to and disposed within a base member of the bed, a hollow headboard of the bed, which functions as a water tank, a serpentine configured water pipe extending through a concrete plate of the base member, and a cotton pad member containing mugwort herb, disposed on a laminated paper cover on the concrete plate, whereby the chair can be easily moved and a vapor from the cotton pad can warm and treat the human body lying on the bed.